MONICA!

MONICA!

A libretto in search of a composer

The White House may have been in crisis all year, but the events were less the stuff of great drama than of a farcical musical comedy. Hey, wait a minute--let's put on a show!

The time: November 1995.

The House Republicans, led by Speaker Newt Gingrich, are insisting on their version of the budget. President Bill Clinton is stubbornly rejecting it. The Republicans have taken a bold option: They will just refuse to pass a budget, and they'll let the government shut down. In the Oval Office, BILL CLINTON meets with advisers LEON PANETTA and HAROLD ICKES and secretary BETTY CURRIE to discuss this development.

CURRIE: Mr. President? The intern is here. And she's brought you some pizza!

[The lights go down. When they resume, the intern--MONICA LEWINSKY--is talking on the phone to her good friend LINDA TRIPP.]

LEWINSKY: Well, y'know, I'd seen him around, like, a lot. And I know he noticed me. So when they said they needed an intern to answer the phones, I said, "Hel-lo-o-o!" And then I had the idea to take him pizza!

TRIPP: That's so weird! What did he think? That you'd go blabbin' this to the whole world?

LEWINSKY: I mean--rilly! Hey, what's that clicking?

TRIPP: It's just my gum.

LEWINSKY: Oh--OK!

[As the relationship between Clinton and Monica continues, some members of the White House staff become worried about the prudence of continuing the relationship with so much potential for scandal. This song is a conversation between Betty Currie, who, though worried, still thinks Monica is a good person, and the rather stonier EVELYN LIEBERMAN.]

[Times passes. Monica moves to the Pentagon, but the relationship intermittently continues. Meanwhile, Paula Jones sues the president for sexual harassment, and it seems clear that before long, Clinton will have to testify under oath. Two close observers of those developments are old friends Linda Tripp and LUCIENNE GOLDBERG, who is friendly with lawyers for Jones and lawyers in the office of Independent Counsel KENNETH STARR. One day, Tripp and Goldberg talk on the phone.]

[Independent Counsel Starr uses Tripp to detain Monica. A few days later, the news breaks. On the advice of his pal Harry Thomason, Clinton flat-out lies to his wife, to his loyalists, and to the public about the relationship.]

"I Never Have" (performance should build in tempo and intensity)

CLINTON: You know I'd like to answer questions,

An act my lawyers won't allow.

I'll give you more not less, sooner not later,

I just can't say a word right now.

But I don't know why she'd say these things

Her head's full of who knows what. But I never had sex with that woman

[The House votes to hold impeachment hearings. But just a few weeks later, the midterm elections, which are expected to go the GOP's way, are held. Contrary to predictions, the Democrats pick up seats, and the GOP's obsession with scandal is repudiated. Gingrich resigns, and the practical chances of Clinton's removal evaporate. As the show ends, we hear from Starr, Lewinsky, and Clinton.]